scanner
Americannoun
-
a person or thing that scans.
-
Also called optical reader. Also called optical scanner. Computers. a device that scans printed, handwritten, barcode, or other visual data and encodes it into digital format.
-
Photography. any device for exposing an image on film, a sensitized plate, etc., by tracing light along a series of many closely spaced parallel lines.
-
(in aerial photography) a device for estimating the ratio of aircraft speed to aircraft altitude.
-
a photoelectric device for scanning a picture to determine automatically the density of the hue or value in each area for transmission by wire or radio or for preparation of color process printing plates.
-
a computer-aided electronic system using photoelectric cells to separate copy, as color illustrations, into its primary colors, correct color copy, and produce a set of color separations ready for proofing or printing.
-
Radio. a radio receiver, used especially by police, firefighters, and the press, that continuously tunes to preselected frequencies, broadcasting any signal that it detects.
-
Medicine/Medical, Biology. a device for examining a body, organ, tissue, or other biologically active material.
noun
-
a person or thing that scans
-
a device, usually electronic, used to measure or sample the distribution of some quantity or condition in a particular system, region, or area
-
an aerial or similar device designed to transmit or receive signals, esp radar signals, inside a given solid angle of space, thus allowing a particular region to be scanned
-
any of various devices used in medical diagnosis to obtain an image of an internal organ or part See CAT scanner nuclear magnetic resonance scanner ultrasound scanner
-
informal a television outside broadcast vehicle
-
short for optical scanner
-
printing an electronic device which scans printed material and converts it to digital form
Etymology
Origin of scanner
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Lying under the MRI scanner and having my brain scanned brought nerves I was not expecting.
From BBC
According to a search warrant affidavit, detectives tracked a suspect vehicle to a home in Sun Valley after it was captured by several scanners near where the shooting occurred.
From Los Angeles Times
"These resources are not specifically about scanners and any decisions on having scanners would be taken at a local level. There is no expectation for staff to take on security related duties."
From BBC
Oh, yeah—when the scientists went into their laboratories, where all the deadly viruses were kept, they’d had to place their hands on a scanner to get in, to prove who they really were.
From Literature
Some hospitals had already turned to more traditional fundraising, including Paris's Georges Pompidou Hospital, which sought donations to buy a scanner, and the Nantes University Hospital.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
